January 13, 2013

hello everybody:)

thanks for the pictures! it looks like snowloads of fun back there:) when i read that the storm was called gandalf, i had to show everybody in the internet booth here:)

thank you for having the missionaries over for dinner. getting fed by people here is a fantastic experience that sadly doesn't happen too often. we were fed last night, though, by one of our investigators. she is a filipino that only speaks tagolog, so elder conejero is able to teach her while i sit there and smile and pray:) she is super nice and funny and told us she wants to treat us like her kids since her own kids are still in the phillipines and have kids of their own. she is really receptive and wants to receive her answer from God. and she makes delicious food. she even made taro leaves palatable;)

i realized the other day that a good few of my friends were leaving around now; some are already in the EmptySea. good luck elders and sisters:)

the relief society translation huh? honestly, you don't have a translation yet because there really isn't one. they would just spell relief society like rilif sosaceti. "charity never faileth" could be "lungse pwaye orekma pacl nu kewa" but that really means charity works all the time. there isn't a word for never. i guess for relief society you could say "mwet suc kasruh mwet" but that means people who help people. really, they just say relief society. there are quite a few english words that kosraeans just adapted the spelling.

the bit about driving in the snow made me smile a little. let me explain: driving in slippery mud and driving in slippery snow are pretty similar. it takes practice. poor elder conejero grew up in downtown manilla, so has not had much experience in either. i have had to get out and push a couple of times. im really glad you were safe and protected:)

im really glad my letters made it home! im still writing and writing and writing and writing them. hopefully they will all be sent by today.

so we are trying really hard to find new people to teach, and apparently, satan is trying really hard to stop people from listening to us. he has two main tools here: drugs and traditions. most people here were brought up in the protestant church, and have a really hard time letting go of  doctrines. i am reminded of the early jewish christians who had a really hard time of letting go of the law of moses. that is kind of the situation here. it gets a little frustrating. but, things are getting better:)

it has been a really hard past week. we've been getting sick with things that are just serious enough to keep us in the house for a day; a couple of people are scared of their neighbors and so they ask us not to come back; members are going less active because the protestant church here taught that if you make a mistake, you aren't worthy to go to church; etc. But, spiritually and scientifically, the more force applied one way, the more force applied the other. we are seeing miracles and progress. we are sharpening our focus and becoming more effective. we have been able to be extremely bold with people and they accept it. for some reason, it is always easier to focus on the hard things than on the incredibly awesome things.

as for the package, peanut butter, hot chocolate, granola bars (really just snack food to eat when we're running out of time), and maybe a little more pero if possible. if not, it really is not a big deal. 

thank you so much for the news and i hope things continue to go well (and if things aren't going well right now and you just aren't telling me about it, i hope they get better). i love you all so much and look forward to hearing from you.

love,
Elder Gerber

ps, i heard a lot of kosraean swear words yesterday and realized just how blessed i am that i don't remember them or recognize what they sound like. im sure people have sworn at us and we are still able to just smile and wave:)